Permafrost‐thaw‐induced land‐cover change in the Canadian subarctic: implications for water resources

Climate warming and human disturbance in north‐western Canada have been accompanied by degradation of permafrost, which introduces considerable uncertainty to the future availability of northern freshwater resources. This study demonstrates the rate and spatial pattern of permafrost loss in a region that typifies the southern boundary of permafrost. Remote‐sensing analysis of a 1·0 km² area indicates that permafrost occupied 0·70 km² in 1947 and decreased with time to 0·43 km² by 2008. Ground‐based measurements demonstrate the importance of horizontal heat flows in thawing discontinuous permafrost, and show that such thaw produces dramatic land‐cover changes that can alter basin runoff production in this region. A major challenge to northern water resources management in the twenty‐first century therefore lies in predicting stream flows dynamically in the context of widely occurring permafrost thaw. The need for appropriate water resource planning, mitigation, and adaptation strategies is explained. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing the tools for geological shape analysis,with regional‐ to local‐scale examples from the Kalgoorlie Terrane of Western Australia

Geological map data are often underused in mineral‐exploration programs, which rely increasingly on regolith geochemistry and geophysical and other remotely sensed data to generate exploration targets. However, solid geology maps, which are progressively being upgraded due to improved interpretations of superior, remotely sensed images and airborne geophysical data, can be useful in targeting specific types of mineral deposits, which formed late in the evolutionary history of the host terrane. In such terranes, the present map geometry is essentially the same as that at the time of deposit formation. This is the case for orogenic lode‐gold deposits, which commonly show predictable structural controls and/or structural geometry. Thus, the shape of a rock body, or combinations of structures and rock bodies, may provide an important guide to the exploration potential for orogenic lode‐gold deposits. However, until recently, there has been a dearth of techniques to quantify the various properties of shape, and hence test the potential of the two‐dimensional shape of geological bodies in map view as an exploration tool. Integrating techniques from the field of pattern recognition with a modern Geographical Information System (GIS) can provide the shape‐analysis tools required to investigate the geometries of geological shapes. Two‐dimensional shape analysis is now possible through the calculation of several shape metrics including, but not restricted to, aspect ratio, blockiness, elongation, compactness, complexity, roundness, spreadness and squareness. Methods are developed for describing the geometries of rock units about mineral deposits, or any geological features, at any scale, which for the first time makes it possible to compare shapes. These shape‐analysis techniques are tested using orogenic lode‐gold deposits, particularly those in the Kalgoorlie Terrane of the highly auriferous Late Archaean Norseman‐Wiluna Belt of Western Australia. On a global scale, shape analysis indicates that those greenstone belts whose volcanic rock sequences have high elongation and relative low roundness, complexity and aspect ratio (e.g. Kalgoorlie Terrane) are likely to be the most richly endowed in gold. On a more local scale, characteristics of the shape of geological features around the Golden Mile deposit are calculated and used to test the likelihood of occurrence of gold deposits with similar geometry elsewhere in the Kalgoorlie Terrane. The area with the most closely matching shape, on the basis of a 2 km clipping‐circle radius, chosen on the basis of available proximity‐analysis data, corresponds to the recently discovered Ghost Crab deposit, illustrating the potential of the shape analysis methodology in mineral exploration. Shape analysis is, at least in part, scale dependent, due to the inherent problem of being able to define rock boundaries more precisely in units that have strong geophysical signatures than those with weak signatures in poorly exposed terranes. Overcoming this problem is a challenge to the application of this methodology.     

Petrology and geothermobarometry of granulite facies metapelites from the Hisøy-Torungen area, south Norway: new data on the Sveconorvegian P–T–t path of the Bamble sector

ABSTRACT The high-grade rocks (metapelite, quartzite, metagabbro) of the Hisøy-Torungen area represent the south-westernmost exposures of granulites in the Proterozoic Bamble sector, south Norway. The area is isoclinally folded and a metamorphic P–T–t path through four successive stages (M1-M4) is recognized. Petrological evidence for a prograde metamorphic event (M1) is obtained from relict staurolite + chlorite + albite, staurolite + hercynite + ilmenite, cordierite + sillimanite, fine-grained felsic material + quartz and hercynite + biotite ± sillimanite within metapelitic garnet. The phase relations are consistent with a pressure of 3.6 ± 0.5 kbar and temperatures up to 750–850°C. M1 is connected to the thermal effect of the gabbroic intrusions prior to the main (M2) Sveconorwegian granulite facies metamorphism. The main M2 granulite facies mineral assemblages (quartz+ plagioclase + K-feldspar + garnet + biotite ± sillimanite) are best preserved in the several-metre-wide Al-rich metapelites, which represent conditions of 5.9–9.1 kbar and 790–884°C. These P–T conditions are consistent with a temperature increase of 80–100°C relative to the adjacent amphibolite facies terranes. No accompanying pressure variations are recorded. Up to 1-mm-wide fine-grained felsic veinlets appear in several units and represent remnants of a former melt formed by the reaction: Bt + Sil + Qtz→Grt + lq. This dehydration reaction, together with the absence of large-scale migmatites in the area, suggests a very reduced water activity in the rocks and XH₂O = 0.25 in the C–O–H fluid system was calculated for a metapelitic unit. A low but variable water activity can best explain the presence or absence of fine-grained felsic material representing a former melt in the different granulitic metapelites. The strongly peraluminous composition of the felsic veinlets is due to the reaction: Grt +former melt ± Sil→Crd + Bt ± Qtz + H₂O, which has given poorly crystalline cordierite aggregates intergrown with well-crystalline biotite. The cordierite- and biotite-producing reaction constrains a steep first-stage retrograde (relative to M2) uplift path. Decimetre- to metre-wide, strongly banded metapelites (quartz + plagioclase + biotite + garnet ± sillimanite) inter-layered with quartzites are retrograded to (M3) amphibolite facies assemblages. A P–T estimate of 1.7–5.6 kbar, 516–581°C is obtained from geothermobarometry based on rim-rim analyses of garnet–biotite–plagioclase–sillimanite–quartz assemblages, and can be related to the isoclinal folding of the rocks. M4 greenschist facies conditions are most extensively developed in millimetre-wide chlorite-rich, calcite-bearing veins cutting the foliation.     

ESTIMATION AND EXPLOITATION OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE SANJIANG PLAIN

According to practical measurement and related data, the writer discusses the main features of rivers in the Sanjiang Plain and the change of water balance with time and space, and then estimates water resources of five types, namely, runoff, ground water, soil water, and water supplied by three rivers and lakes (or reservoirs).The total volume of the above-mentioned water resources can be up to 31.5 billion m3. But they are rather unevenly distributed and the annual change is considerable, too. Up to now, only 8.3% of water resources have been utilized. According to a programme, 17.5 billion m3 will be utilized in the future in the district. Rationally exploiting water resources in the district should be combined with protection and management, and the sole criterion for judging rationality of utilization is that whether it is beneficial to economic, ecologic and social aspects.     

禁忌搜索优化的投影寻踪及其在水资源评价中的应用

在深入分析区域水资源可持续利用评价系统的基础上，建立了区域水资源可持续利用能力评价指标体系，并将基于禁忌搜索优化的投影寻踪技术（TSPP）应用于水资源可持续利用评价。通过对淮河片区水资源可持续利用能力的初步研究，表明了此模型能完整而系统地反映区域水资源可持续利用能力，并且直观、简便，在各种实际系统评价中具有应用价值。     

地理信息系统在国土资源调查中的应用

目前地理信息系统的制图功能广泛应用于国土资源大调查中 ,作者结合自己的工作体会 ,介绍一下微机辅助制图的工作方法和步骤 :图层设置、矢量化、误差校正、图幅拼接、图幅整饰和图形输出     

祁连山区季节性积雪资源的气候分析*

本文采用1986年10月至1988年9月NOAA—9、10两颗卫星的AVHRR资料标准化后反演的积雪参量,对照祈连山区26个气象站1951—1988年逐日雪深、雪密度和积雪日数的资科,修正卫星反演的平均值。得到高分辨率多年平均雪深和雪盖频率的空间分布。从而估算出各流域平均雪储量,并与降雪量和春季融雪径流作对此分析。     

桂北江南古陆南缘拗褶带中铅锌矿产成矿信息特征及预测标志

本文通过研究与总结前人成果基础上.对桂北江南古陆南缘拗褶带中铅锌矿进行成矿预测。文中侧重探讨了该带的成矿环境、典型矿床特征、控矿因素和地球物理、地球化学特征;综合地、物、化成矿信息.总结提出了7 条成矿预测标志:采用特征分析法对该带中的19个成矿单元进行资源定性预测评价,认为其铅锌矿资源潜力较大,有找矿前景。     

论地质旅游资源

地质旅游资源是自然旅游资源的核心,以成因、物质基础、空间分布为基础,结合其形态特征、社会经济特征等因素对地质旅游资源进行了初步分类,并探讨了地质旅游的特色及发展前景.     

大坂山含“铬矿物”石英闪长岩岩石特征

大坂山“铬矿物”产出于灰绿色中细粒石英闪长岩中,笔者从区域地质特征、岩石学、岩石化学、地球化学、同位素等方面对石英闪长岩进行了较全面的研究后认为,该套岩石成因为壳幔混合型,构造环境为北祁连加里东洋盆收缩阶段板块俯冲作用下形成的火山弧,岩石成岩时代为早奥陶世,铬矿物形成深度约30km,受区域性岩石圈断裂带控制。